[Vnbiz] One third Vietnam high school students fail graduation exams for cheating

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,

This is the craziest statistical conclusion I have seen in my entire life.

The article says, "One third of Vietnam's high school students turned out
cheaters. They failed their graduation exams, a year after the country
declared war on cheating on the tests."  So I was looking for the
explanation of that number "one third."  And here is the answer: "A report
by the Ministry of Education and Training ... saying that only 67.5 percent
of the students passed their graduation exams, down from 92 percent last
year."

So here is the incredible logic that I have mentioned in my previous two
messages (Obviously it is the official line that all education officials are
saying and the media is saying.  Probably it comes down from the top of the
education establishment).  Here is that logic:  Last year 92 percent
graduated.  This year we worked against cheating.  This year only
67.5percent graduated.  Therefore, one third of the students are
cheaters.

In other words:  Last year she passed the exam.  This year we worked against
cheating.  This year she didn't pass  the exam.  Therefore, she is a
cheater.

If that is the fundamental logic of the education establishment, we now
know why our students aren't learning anything.

The other thing is:  All these percentages are cited to claim victory in the
war against cheating and to blame the students.  There is not ONE WORD
anywhere asking (like sister Minh Dieu said) in the same line of logic:
"What school has the high rate of flunking this year?  That school
management and teachers must have done a terrible job, because they have so
many 'cheating students.'  Therefore,what kind of sanction we need to have
against that school management and teachers?"

When we start to shift the attention and the blame from the students to the
teachers and management like that, I am absolutely sure that the education
establishment and the media will not want to reply on the flunking
percentage to claim victory and will start to look for all the real causes
of the percentage change.

Have a great day!

Hoanh



On 6/18/07, Phan, Tai <Tai.Phan at ed.gov> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> One third Vietnam high school students fail graduation exams for cheating
>
>
>
> Pravda -  06/18/2007 14:15 Source: AP (c)
>
>
> One third of Vietnam's high school students turned out cheaters. They
> failed their graduation exams, a year after the country declared war on
> cheating on the tests, state media reported Monday.
>
>
>
> The Labor newspaper quoted a report by the Ministry of Education and
> Training as saying that only 67.5 percent of the students passed their
> graduation exams, down from 92 percent last year.
>
> The southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City had the highest success
> rate, with 95 percent of its students passing the exams. Hanoi, the
> Vietnamese capital, ranked fourth with 86 percent.
>
> The northern province of Tuyen Quang finished at the bottom of Vietnam's
> 64 cities and provinces, with only 14 percent of its students passing the
> exams, the newspaper said.
>
> Ministry officials were not available for comment Monday.
>
> The government declared a war on cheating last year, after a teacher from
> northern province of Ha Tay said that cheating was widespread at his school,
> a disclosure that was widely covered in the state media.
>
> The ministry sent some 6,000 officials on inspection missions to police
> the national graduation exams taken in late May.
>
> The roughly 320,000 students who failed their exams will retake them in
> late August, the newspaper said.
>
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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